Volume 4, Issue 25 Thursday 17 March 2016

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Dear Parents

Moving forward, my role will be to direct Secondary Education but also to have a strategic overview of the whole learning community at Kings' Al Barsha. Kings' Education are putting in a lot of support by allowing a transition at leadership level. Mr Turner will now

move into a more strategic role at Kings' Nad Al Sheba next term. In addition, we welcome a first formal visit from our new outstanding Primary Headteacher later in May.

My first few weeks in post have really demonstrated to me what an incredible school I

have arrived in. During Week Without Walls, staff & students were engaged in learning throughout our wonderful planet; rugby, swimming, football and netball success shows that our investment in sport is creating a true 'Sports Academy' feel within the context of

the pursuit of excellence; very well-led Assemblies from our outstanding Year Head Leaders have conveyed important messages and ended with incredible music

performances by gifted students; with strong teacher retention in place for next session I was still required to visit London to recruit still more experienced and talented teachers for our considerable expansion next session. This expansion includes an additional two Senior

Leadership posts in secondary and one specifically to support (& challenge!) our new Year 11 learners as they approach their GCSE Exams, a considerable investment by Kings'

Education in our future Sixth Form; in the interim Ms Charles and her team led a super 'Meet the Experts' day which I had the pleasure of attending this week where our future Year 11s & Sixth Form were able to reflect on the challenges & opportunities ahead at

KSAB. I have also been party to outstanding staff Continuing Professional Development events where committed teachers share & discuss best practice in the classroom to ensure

the best learning for our young people. However, if I am honest, the best par, thus far, has been spending time at intervals, lunchtimes, before & after school with your children who are such lovely young people. They are undoubtedly our VIPs! Thank you for trusting

us with their care & education.

Firstly let me start my inaugural Principal's Report by saying a massive

and heartfelt 'thank you' to all staff, students and parents who have made me feel so welcome to Kings' Education. We have a fantastic

school and I am very proud and honoured to be appointed Principal of Kings' Al Barsha by the company and by KHDA. It is a wonderful place to work and I'm already convinced it is an incredible place to learn. In

many ways, as well as being the Headteacher, I am presently very much the Head Learner! The support for me has been very special and

a large public 'thank you' needs to be publicly stated for Mr Turner who has been a trusted coach & mentor over my first few weeks in post.

The best by every child

The building work is progressing really fast now and we can genuinely see the final third of

the school taking shape such that we will, without any shadow of a doubt, be ready for a fully completed package in September. If we need proof then the opening of our Design &

Technology Building for the Formula 1 event this week exemplifies the progress and investment. I sincerely believe that this provides us with the best Technology and Expressive Arts facilities across the city in terms of future learning. All this secures a sound

foundation for our journey to excellence in outstanding education.

This week we continue that journey with Drama Productions, Formula 1 Showcase and Fun Days. Wow! It's all happening and more. Read on to find out the details…

Newsletters only give us a small snapshot of all that is being achieved on a daily basis across the Foundation, Primary and Secondary stages at the school Underneath the

'highlights & headlines' young people are working away in partnership with their inspired and passionate teachers who facilitate their learning on a daily basis. It is truly wonderful to be part of their journey and that is why you will see me smiling on a daily basis. I love

my job and look forward to working in partnership with you to ensure we achieve our vision of 'The Best by Every Child'.

Yours sincerely

Alan Williamson

Principal Kings' School Al Barsha

(Twitter@AlanDWilliamso1)

Students across all secondary year groups are

gearing up to showcase work from the Secondary

Drama Club and the GCSE curriculum this weekend.

34 actors will perform to an invited audience of their parents and teachers, performing monologues, duologues and extracts from a range of challenging

modern and classical texts.

Mr Pugh says he is delighted by the level of maturity

demonstrated by such young performers and is deeply proud of the progress and increase in

confidence that he's seen.

Collaboration, creativity, kindness and emotional intelligence are at the heart of Drama at KSAB and

our passionate committed dramatists are going from

strength to strength!

Drama Showcase 4-6 pm. Black Box Theatre

The best by every child

The BSME swimming championships

Last Saturday swimmers from Kings’ School Al Barsha were chosen to represent the school in the BSME Swimming Championship against many successful schools from

across the Middle East. Our opponents consisted of 363 swimmers from a whopping 16 schools, competing at the Hamdan bin Mohamed bin Rashid Sports Complex. Our squad had only seven members that had made it through the extremely tough qualification

times. However with our outstanding Director of Swimming, Miss Lucas' help we managed to secure and gain great places and lot of medals and ribbons. Some

honorable mentions include the boys’ 100m butterfly where Chris figuratively destroyed the other swimmers by coming in 1st place. Chris also finished in 2nd place in the 100m and 200m freestyle events. Poppy Cummings also came away with medals, including a

silver in the 100m Butterfly and bronze in the 50m Butterfly. In the girls’ 50m butterfly Harriette Gravestock earned 6th place, this makes us very proud to have her as our

swim captain. The girls’ medley relay team snatched victory from the jaws of defeat when they came in 4th place, narrowly missing out on a medal position. Annabelle Millington performed her race flawlessly and was awarded 8th place. Catarina Wolfs

scored yet another personal best as she had achieved 8th place in the 50m breaststroke sprint.

Last but not least Abigail Capon obliterated her old time as she made a humongous 5

second leap and came 7th in the 100m front crawl.

Well done to all of the swimmers who competed in these races and many thanks to all the teachers and parents who made this whole event possible. The event further

exemplifies just how great competitive swimming is at Kings' School Al Barsha. Think what it will be like when our new Competitive Pool opens in the summer!

By Maya Held -swimmer!

The best by every child

Monday 21 March KSAB Family Fun Day 1-4.30 pm

Monday 21 March F1 in School In-House Challenge, 1.30 pm in Design and

Technology Department (New Building)

Tuesday 22 March Year 8 Parents' Evening

Wednesday 23 March DOE Award (Bronze Level) Adventurous Journey

presentation - 4.30 pm. Y10 breakout area.

Thursday 24 March Non-Uniform Day (Rhino Revolution)

Thursday 24 March Q3 reports issued

Thursday 24 March Term 2 ends - school closes

Sunday 10 April School reopens

Sunday 17 April ECAs begin

Monday 18 April Year 7 Parents’ Evening 3.45 -7pm

Wednesday 4 May Year 10 Parents' Evening

Thursday 5 May Al Isra wal Mi'raj Day (TBC)

Monday 9 May SLC Year 7-9

Tuesday 17 May Year 10 GCSE Science B1 Science Unit 1: Influences On

Life (1 hour)

Thursday 19 May Year 10 GCSE Science C1 Science Unit 1: Chemistry In

Our World (1 hour)

Thursday 19 May Outdoor ASAs end

Wednesday 25 May Year 10 GCSE Science P1 Science Unit 1: Universal

Physics (1 hour)

Sunday 29 May Arts and Music Exhibition

29 May - 4 June Year 10 Mock Exam Week

Thursday 2 June ECAs finish

Sunday 5 June Awards Evening (TBC)

Monday 6 June First day of Ramadan (TBC)

Tuesday 14 June Year 6-7 Step Up Day

Thursday 23 June Iftar (TBC)

Thursday 23 June Sports Awards

Wednesday 29 June Q4 reports issued

Thursday 30 June Year 10 Student-Led Reflection Day (appointment only)

Thursday 30 June Staff Inset day

On Thursday 17th March the Year 10 Art GCSE students are going to experience Art Dubai. They will explore the galleries of Al Serkal Avenue in Al Quoz before moving down to the Madinat where commercial galleries from all over the world exhibit the work of their key

artists.

Watch out for photos and a full report on this exciting trip in the next newsletter

Please note the following rearranged dates

KSAB Family Fun Day will be on Monday 21st March

from 1 pm - 4.30 pm Rhino Non-Uniform Day will be on Thursday 24th March

We welcome everyone to join us at the Family Fun Day and tickets are

not required.

Please do continue to buy Rhino merchandise from Primary, Secondary and FS Reception in order to wear non-uniform next Thursday. We hope to get more badges in stock early next week.

The best by every child

Kings’ Al Barsha

Chess Tournament

After a whirl wind of 72 matches in just 8 days, we are now down to the last 32.

Thanks to all the students who have played thus far and made the tournament such an initial success.

We are now down to the serious business. Each round is the best of three matches and will take

place over the next five days. The reigning champion has coasted through, whilst others have got

through on count back.

The draw for the last 32 will take place on Sunday lunch time. All group winners will be drawn against

those coming second.

Completed tables and qualifiers are below:

Round of 32

Matches: 20th, 22nd & 24th March Matches: 21st, 23rd & 24th March

Vaneeza Chapra 8K vs Shamel Samsheer 7I Matthew Lily 10I vs Ahmed Shaikh 9K

Aditya Jauhari 7S vs Blane Fleet 7A Mikail Khawaga 9K vs James Gault 7N

Amr Shaikh 10N vs Harry Horton 10N Ralph Holt 9K vs Noah Moudarres 8K

Muhammed Cheema 8G vs Yazan Drury 7G Rehan Samaratunga 7N vs Carl Leszczinski 7S

Eamon Sharma 7S vs Steven Youman 7L Sanad Ibrahim 7K vs Oliver Clemits 7L

Harry Miles 7N vs Kun Tesse Wisse 9I Sparsh Goel 7N vs Harry Horton 10N

Ismael Hussain 7S vs Sanya Mirza 8S Tejas Trikha 7L vs Rehman Oomer 7I

Khaleel Raja 7I vs Hamza Khedr 7G Zain Saquib 8S vs Vali Gadayev 7N

With the side decimated by injuries KSAB travelled to GEMS WIS in their penultimate rugby match of the season.

Both sides started strongly with some strong runs and set plays. KSAB struck first with a well worked move.

WIS started to score and applied pressure to the KSAB line. Strong defence could not keep them at bay and WIS started score.

This was a very good learning curve for the squad and there will be lots to talk about in training before our final match at home next week.

Final score 5-37

The best by every child

Monday 21st March is a key date in the Art and DT Department Calendar: the Formula One in Schools In-House Challenge. Six teams have been selected from Year 9 to design cars, uniforms and pit displays simulating the real Formula One experience. They will race their cars in the wonderful new Art and Design and Technology Department in the afternoon, to be judged by F1 in schools co-ordinator, Mr Paul Bray who is coming from Abu Dhabi. Winners will go forward to the F1 challenge event in Abu Dhabi next term, competing with other schools from the region. We are delighted that this significant

showcase will be the first event to be staged in our incredible new

facility

Come along and support the teams at 1.15pm on Monday 21st March - look out for photos in the next Newsletter!

A morning of diving was in order for fifteen of our students from year 7-9 at the Hamdan

Aquatic Centre.

Top billing was the opportunity to watch Tom Daley compete in the 10m board synchro

final.

All students were in awe of the technical abilities of all divers and the height they were diving from. Students also had the opportunity to meet two of the GBR Rio Olympic Game

hopefuls, as they gave up some of their time to sit with us and explain their training and

the sport that they love.

A great morning of sport.